Such type of sealing device is found for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,626A which describes a telescopic joint for underwater pipelines, comprising an inner pipe provided with an expandable steel sheath. A gap is created between the steel sheath and an inner cylinder forming an end part of the inner pipe, and is connected to pressure means so that applying pressure in the gap causes the steel sheath to deform and to expand in order to interlock with an outer pipe. To maintain a sealing pressure of contact between the sheath and the outer pipe for a long time, the fluid injected in the gap can be an epoxy resin which solidifies to obtain a permanently deformed sheath. However, injecting a resin under pressure may be difficult, especially in underwater conditions where water pressure is high.
Furthermore, the deformation ability of the steel sheath is not high, therefore the outer diameter of the sheath before expansion cannot be significantly lower than the inner diameter of the outer pipe and consequently the radial length of the inter-pipes space is necessarily small. The device is disadvantageous in a configuration in which the inner pipe has to be introduced and guided into the outer pipe and the guidance conditions are difficult, for instance in case of an alignment shift between the outer pipe and a telescopic inner pipe when introducing the inner pipe.